Friday, June 5, 2015

Brand New Beach Haven!


Location: 9600 Long Beach Boulevard, Beach Haven, NJ


It's finally here... the tour of the brand-new Beach Haven Acme! These photos were taken a week after the store opened. If you're a new visitor to the blog and haven't seen the old store, which stood at this same location for over 56 years, please click here for look.


This is easily the most exciting Acme to have opened since the 90's. The store is designed beautifully and is chock full of Acme spirit which has been sorely missing from the chain for years.


"Summer is better at Acme" banners on the light poles throughout the parking lot. Not sure if these are going up at all stores or just the Jersey Shore locations.


Jet sky parking is available.


The parking lot is going to take a little getting used too. The only entrance is under the Acme sign yet more people were parking on the far left area of the lot which is connected to the store's main entrance from the street. The other entrance at this end sneaks up on you pretty quickly as you're coming south on the boulevard.


An outdoor season merchandise cage is located under the awning, similar to what the old store had.








The ramp up to the entrance and exit. The store is built up a good 3 feet from the ground. The entire property has been built up higher so the new Acme might be 4 or 5 feet higher than the old store. No water is getting into this place the next time the ocean flows over the island!


Vestibule display appeared to be in transition. A little surprising this wasn't taken care of first thing in the morning.


Yep, you're at Acme and you're going to be reminded of that from one side of this place to the other! Albertssons has thankfully done a complete 180 from the disastrous SuperValu days. While Acme branded products are not back on grocery store shelves (yet?), the Acme brand is everywhere in this place.


Not a great opening shot of the Produce Department. Some better views to come.


A small "Fresh Flowers" case just across from Customer Service...


Multiple express registers at Customer Service. This is being done at other remodels as well. While the self checkouts are all getting removed, some interesting register configurations are going in as replacements, as we will be seeing in the coming weeks.


Over now to the front corner of the store but wait... where's the updated logo at the Corner Deli? Not here. Guess Devon is the only one getting that treatment. As beautiful as this store is, some of the department signage could use a little more pizazz, as far as I'm concerned. Compare this sign to the one at Devon by clicking here.


Acme has a big "local" push going on, as you can see on the black signs hung throughout the fresh departments. At the top of the sign is a heart with "Acme Signature" and then a fresh product, anything from meat to cookies. The bottom says "Acme. We Love Local" with the "o" in love being heart. Here's a close-up look of an outdoor version of the signs...




While the department signs may be a little lacking, the tile on the back walls of the service departments is not! The Corner Deli is all done in white subway tile. Foods To Go and the Bakery are done in a angled brown glass tile. Not captured well at all these pictures but absolutely beautiful in person.


Impressive Bakery selection especially considering the other store didn't even have a Bakery.




Looking across from Foods To Go. No department signage for Produce except for "Organic" which is hanging above the cases on the right side of the photo.


Gorgeous tile wall behind the meat counter. The new cases you see here are going into stores that are being remodeled. Kind of an interesting mix of fresh foods up top and packaged products below.




The freezer cases to the left line the back of the produce cases. Aisle 1 is right beyond the last freezer door...


I'm a big fan of the polished concrete floors. They look really great here. Keeps the floor nice and neutral. Notice the monitor on the wall up at the front-end. These are going into all Acmes. They scroll pictures of store employees.




A look along the back of the store. Milk cases just beyond the Meat cases.


Dairy runs along the back of the store with 1/2 of an aisle of Dairy across from Frozen Foods.








Now this is a nice sign!


Taking a page out of the Wegman's playbook with paper good being in the very last aisle.


New feature going into stores! Not sure if anyone is going to see it with such muted colors but it is very cool nonetheless.




"The House that Quality Built" wall! The black and white photos around the store are all scenes from Long Beach Island. I didn't see any pictures of old Acmes. This an alcove in the front corner with seasonal merchandise, greeting cards and magazines.


A look all the way down the front of the store with the logo wall on the right...




The skylights added great atmosphere to the store but made some of the photos a little hazy.








Back down the ramp.


The new store still needs some additional storage! Several "PODS" located around back.


If you have a chance to to get to the new Beach Haven Acme, grab it! It is worth the trip!!


Finishing up with a billboard out on route 72 announcing the new Acme . The sign cycles through several other business including ShopRite. Tough getting a full picture when the Acme board is up. Nice to see "From city to shore"!

19 comments:

  1. Great post of the new Beach Haven Acme, along with a billboard advertising it! Did you actually know that CBS Outdoor is now Outfront Media (I commented about the CBS/Outfront in your Orange, NJ post in December)?

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    1. Can't say as I did. I don't follow billboard ownership developements quite the way I do with Acme.

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  2. Does the store have a basement? I thought that it might given the space constraints, but maybe not with the flood situation.

    Do you know the square footage of the store?

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    1. I doubt it has a basement. Tough to build and maintain one in the sand in a flood prone area. I believe the store is 38,000. Articles online say it's nearly twice the size of the old store which is hard to believe when you're in it. Feels much bigger.

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    2. Nope...no basement.
      T.

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  3. The outside reminds me of the Manalapan store with the peak on the left and the right.

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  4. Hooray! The new, relocated Beach Haven Acme is finally on the blog. I must say that it's pretty nice for a 2010s era store, although the color scheme is pretty safe, or "boring".

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    Replies
    1. It's not relocated! It stands in the same spot as the old store. Spread out more of course.

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  5. I know a couple (and there are probably more) of the Hannaford stores up this way that were remodeled more recently have a similar service counter configuration, except that they just have a counter more for the service desk function on one side (where Acme has registers 1 & 2) and then the 2 expresses (one store may have self checkouts) on the side where Acme has registers 3 & 4.

    Hannaford has also been known for just 2 self checkouts (where most stores do them either in bunches of 4 or the longer single counters with belts).

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  6. Great post! But this is the first one I've noticed with the prices blurred out.

    Does this Acme have a garden center? It sure looks like it.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Clearly seen prices are always blurred out in posts.

      The outdoor sales area is mostly beach accessories. There might be some garden supplies in there cage but not much.

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  7. The simpistic decor of this store looks really nice. Interesting they put up a street sign very similar to the old one.

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  8. Wow, what a great post and coverage Acme Style!
    I've been told that in the first two days grand opening, this store processed about $250,000 in sales.
    Great job and success Acme.

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  9. Fantastic store! While I think the Devon decor would also look better here, it still looks great.

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  10. I know the history of CBS/Outfront: started as Outdoor Systems (composed of what used to be billboards owned by Gannett (the newspaper people) and 3M), which was acquired by Infinity Radio, which in turn was acquired by Viacom in 1998, and when CBS and Viacom split in 2005, CBS took the billboards.

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    Replies
    1. Viacom actually bought Infinity in 2001.

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  11. Is the fried chicken recipe Acme's or Albertsons'?

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  12. I hate to say this because I don't want to sound down on any new Acme, but I was disappointed in this one. Maybe it had a lot to do with the concrete floor (I hate those- makes it feel like a Lowes or Home Depot) and the simplistic decor. Functionally, this place is great and will do well serving the needs of its customers (especially those in the summer that probably loathed the old store because of its size) but if the Albertsons-era stores could be criticized for a lack of character, the same can be said of this one. Hopefully the new Sea Isle City location (and all those A&P remodels) will be given nicer interior treatment.

    Oh, and I've seen that Jersey state thing on the wall in two Acme stores, and in both they are mounted at an angle that is completely wrong, considering the actual positioning of the state in relation to its surroundings. I know, a small quibble, but still...

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